bantam

Etymology

It is apparently named after Bantam, a district and former seaport in the north-west of Java, now called Banten,^{[2][3][4][5][6]} from which the fowls were supposed to have been first brought to Europe.^[2][7][8] The birds are not native there:^[3][5][6] the OED reports Crawford's view that they came originally from Japan, and Weekley also takes the bird to be Japanese, comparing guinea pig.^[2][9] The American Heritage Dictionary explains that Bantam was a port of the pepper trade where European ships often took on supplies, among them chickens of small Asian breeds,^[4] and Ayto notes that the story of the birds' origin has never been firmly established, though the name stuck.^[10] Etymonline describes Bantam as a former Dutch residency, with a name of unknown origin, probably from a local language.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

A small variety of the domestic fowl: Merriam-Webster dates it to 1740,^[11] and the OED's first quotation, from M. Delany's Autobiography and Correspondence (published 1861), is from 1749,^[2] the year Barnhart and Etymonline also give.^[7][8]

Semantic evolution

The cocks are spirited fighters,^[2][3] and the word was soon applied to a small but aggressive or spirited person, from 1787 in the OED;^[2][3] Barnhart and Etymonline date this sense to 1837, Barnhart in Dickens's Pickwick Papers, with reference to the fighting qualities of bantam cocks.^[7][8] In boxing it named a light weight class from 1884,^[2][8] the class also being called bantamweight.^[10][12] From 1914 it was used of battalions of small soldiers;^[2][9] Weekley records bantam battalion in 1915.^[9] As an adjective, "small" or "bantam-sized", Merriam-Webster dates it to 1881,^[11] and it also marks a junior age group in sport, in Canada between 13 and 15, especially in ice hockey.^[11][12] In slang, Green's Dictionary records it in the United States for a young, inexperienced man from 1860, and for a lover or womanizer from 1883.^[13] The OED also records bantam from 1753 for a kind of brightly coloured Indian ornamental work.^[2]

Timeline

• 1740 – a small domestic fowl.^[11] The OED's first quotation is from 1749.^[2][7][8]
• 1753 – a kind of brightly coloured Indian ornamental work.^[2]
• 1787 – figuratively, a small but spirited or aggressive person.^[2][3]
• 1860 – in American slang, a young, inexperienced man.^[13]
• 1881 – adjective, small, bantam-sized.^[11]
• 1883 – in slang, a lover or womanizer.^[13]
• 1884 – a light weight class in boxing.^[2][8]
• 1914 – of battalions of small soldiers.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. Any of various very small breeds of domestic fowl, many of them miniature versions of standard breeds, whose cocks are spirited fighters.^{[11][12][2][3]}
2. A small but combative or spirited person.^[12][11][3]
3. (boxing) A bantamweight.^[12][11]
4. (Canada) In amateur sport, especially ice hockey, an age level of 13 to 15.^[12]

Adjective

1. Small, or reduced in size: a bantam motorcycle.^[11]
2. Cheeky and pugnacious.^[11]
3. Belonging to a junior age group in sport: a bantam hockey team.^[11][12]

Word family

• bantamweight

Related words

• banty

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
4. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
5. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
9. ^ a b c Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
10. ^ a b Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
11. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
12. ^ a b c d e f g Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
13. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com